Pakatan Harapan leaves Sarawak seat talks to Saifuddin Abdullah

IT turns out that the Opposition from Malaya really have no respect for their Sarawakian branch chiefs.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) VP Nurul Izzah Anwar just announced that former Umno man, now PKR man, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah will handle the seat claims for the Sarawak State Election.

Yes Saifuddin – former Temerloh MP and deputy minister who lost his seat to a Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) candidate during the 2013 elections.

He’s from Pahang in case you didn’t know.

I am not sure he has ever been to Sarawak, perhaps he has at some stage, but anyway, this Pahang man has been tasked with resolving the opposition’s seat disputes in our great State.

It does seem strange that PKR cannot trust their Sarawak chief and vice-chief, Baru Bian and See Chee How, to handle things in our own State.

Are things really that bad between them and the Democratic Action Party’s State chief Chong Chieng Jen?

Do they really need an outsider from across the South China Sea to clean things up between them here?

And where is PAS Sarawak in all of this? DAP has been trying its damndest to distance itself from PAS in Sarawak for awhile now.

See DAP has its eyes set on 30 seats in Sarawak during the next elections. Yes that’s right – 30 out of 71 seats (or perhaps more if the 11 new seats are approved).

Anyway, I am not concerned about their seat negotiations, but I do find it bizarre that no opposition leader in Sarawak is good enough to actually lead things here in the eyes of their leaders from the Peninsula.

Funny don’t you think when the opposition members have been echoing the call for greater autonomy for Sarawak (and our Bornean sister Sabah), which of course has been championed in our great State by our Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Adenan Satem.

Yet when it comes to something as basic as party affairs, it seems clear who is actually calling the shots. Scary to think what would happen if they were ever ‘in-charge’. Who from the Peninsular would be tasked to oversee the Sarawakian CM or Cabinet should the opposition ever be elected into power?

It really seems clear that Nurul Izzah has no idea what Sarawakians, or for that matter Sabahans want and deserve.

That’s probably why she didn’t think it was a big deal to have a nice meal and take selfies with Jacel Kiram. Hey so what if the latter had a part in the Lahad Datu invasion. It happened in Sabah – way across the South China Sea from the Peninsula where Nurul Izzah is from.

Hence I am sure it never even crossed her mind that Sarawakians would be offended when she proudly announced that Saifuddin will be in charge of seat negotiations for our great State.

SHAH ALAM, Nov 28 — Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah will be in charge of resolving seat claims among Pakatan Harapan members for the coming Sarawak election, according to PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar.

She said that Pakatan Harapan component parties have unanimously agreed that he would be the best person to coordinate the interested parties.

“There’s a general consensus that the best person to get the ball rolling is Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and he has been chosen by most of the parties, especially DAP, PKR and of course Amanah,” she told reporters when met on the sidelines of PKR’s 2015 national congress.

“He would be best in regards [in ensuring] that all parties remain measured to their demands.”

Saifuddin joined PKR in October, following criticisms from members of his previous party, Umno.

Nurul Izzah said that Saifuddin will begin the negotiation process soon as the Sarawak elections is just around the corner.

She said with 11 new state seats, it was important for all parties to maintain its previous arrangements to allow straight fights in the polls, which must take place next year.

“The key principle is again, a straight fight, because we give Barisan Nasional a clear cut win if we go in and enter into a three corner arrangement,” she said.

DAP had recently said that it would be contesting in 30 seats in the Sarawak elections, more than double the seats it currently holds in the state.